


From the Jaws of Your Nightmares

by i_hate_everything_except_fandoms



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: General wholesomeness, Graham being comforting, Light Joe/Debbie because plot required it, Multi, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-23 19:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18708049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_hate_everything_except_fandoms/pseuds/i_hate_everything_except_fandoms
Summary: Debbie's discovery of Joe's nightmares leads to an important conversation.





	From the Jaws of Your Nightmares

Joe bolted upright in his bed, gasping for air. The room was still dark, signalling to the young man that daybreak was still a while off, though this was the least of Joe's worries as he attempted to calm his breathing, running a hand over his face. He could feel tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, and blinked them away furiously. This wasn't something to crying over.

"Joe?" A voice cut through the sound of his rapid breathing, reminding him of the woman lying in bed with him. 

He turned his head, seeing Debbie lying propped up on one elbow, looking at him with concern. He offered her a small smile, hoping that he didn't seem too distressed. "Hey, what are you doing awake?"

"I could say the same to you," Debbie replied. "Are you okay?"

Joe nodded. "Yeah, fine." When she gave him a disbelieving look, he added, "Just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Do you have them often?" Debbie enquired, reaching out to run her fingers over Joe's arm.

He shook his head. "No, I very rarely have them," he lied, wishing that he sounded more convincing.

"Does Graham know?" Debbie questioned further, voice softening having mentioned the other man, as she completely disregarded the obvious lie. She knew that things with Joe and Graham were complicated, so she always treated it as a sensitive subject.

Joe hesitated, weighing up his options. Eventually, not meeting Debbie's gaze, he answered, "He knew when I used to have nightmares. But he doesn't know that I'm having them again." He then met her eye. "And I don't want him to."

"Don't you think you should talk to him about it?" Debbie asked, tone still soft.

Joe shook his head. "I don't want to worry him."

Debbie nodded, trying to ignore the stab of jealousy she felt over the fact that Joe had told her, yet wanted to protect Graham. Then again, he hadn't really had a choice about telling her. She wasn't sure which thought was worse. Despite it, she replied, "You can always talk to me about it."

"Thanks, but I'll be alright," Joe responded, giving Debbie another smile. He lay back down, opening his arms for her.

Debbie smiled, snuggling up to him. Joe closed his eyes, pretending to try and sleep, though he knew he wouldn't - not after his dream.

Once he knew that Debbie was asleep again, he opened his eyes again, staring up at the ceiling. His thoughts drifted to the man down the landing and he wondered, if things were different, if he would be able to sleep now. He attempted to push the thought from his mind, feeling a little guilty that he was thinking about how things could be when he had Debbie lying in his arms. His attempts, however, were futile and he found himself thinking about what it'd be like to be lying in his arms at that very moment. Would he feel safe and relaxed? Would he feel anything but the embraces of Graham and sleep? Would he feel loved? Joe sighed, wishing he knew. Eventually, with the prior questions swirling around his head, he managed to fall back off to sleep. 

* * *

 Joe awoke what must have only been a few hours later to the sound of his alarm bleeping. He reached over, smacking the sleep button with his fist. Steeling himself, he opened his eyes. Debbie was gazing up at him, smiling. "Morning."

"Morning," Joe replied. He was about to ask whether she had slept well, but knew that the same question would be posed to him, so he thought better of it. "I suppose we had better get up."

Debbie nodded. "Yeah. I need to go and pick up the kids from Mum, before she throws a fit."

Joe chuckled. "Sounds about right." He kissed Debbie's forehead, before climbing out of bed so he could get ready for the day.

Debbie did the same, wondering if she and Joe would ever end up discussing the previous night again. _'Knowing Joe, probably not,'_ she thought.

 Around half an hour, Joe and Debbie stood at the front door. 

"Will I be seeing you later?" Joe enquired.

Debbie opened her mouth to reply, but paused when she heard movement on the stairs.

Joe glanced over his shoulder. "Morning, Graham," he greeted the elder man as he came into view.

"Morning, Joseph, Debbie," Graham replied, voice gruff. He was as smartly dressed as always, but his demeanour betrayed the organised front, as he walked off towards the kitchen.

Joe turned back to Debbie, eyebrow quirked. "So?"

"Uh, no, you won't be. I promised the kids I'd spend some time with them," she explained.

The young man nodded. "I see. Tomorrow, maybe?"

Debbie nodded as well. "Yeah, sounds good. See you tomorrow, then." She leaned in, kissing Joe's cheek.

Joe smiled, watching Debbie turn and walk to her car, then shut the door. He immediately headed to the kitchen, finding Graham making coffee. Seeing the two mugs on the worktop, he smiled to himself, taking a seat at the table.

"Will we be seeing Debbie again today?" Graham asked.

"No, she's spending time with the kids," Joe answered.

The former soldier cast a glance at him, raising an eyebrow. "And she doesn't want you there?"

Joe shrugged. "She can spend time with them on her own, can't she?"

"Of course." Graham finished making their coffees, bringing them over to the table and handing one to the younger man. "I just thought that, seeing as you are... making a proper go of things, she'd want you spending more time with them."

Joe shrugged again, taking a sip of his coffee, a small frown on his face.

Sensing that the topic needed to be changed, Graham informed Joe, "I need to pop into the village later. We're almost out of milk, and you know that neither of us can go without coffee for long."

The brunette nodded. "Okay. I have work to do today, so I'd appreciate not being disturbed as must as possible."

"Sure. I'll stay out of your way as much as possible."

"Thanks," Joe replied, taking another drink of coffee.

Graham watched him for a couple of moments, frowning to himself as he drank his own coffee. He could tell that something was bothering Joe, but he didn't know what. He considered asking, but judging by the mood the younger man seemed to be in, pushing him to open up would just make him clam up more, so he decided not to.

 After Joe had finished his coffee, he stood, giving Graham a tight smile as he moved passed him to the sink, placing the mug in it. He then disappeared into the office, not uttering another word. Graham also finished off his coffee, sighing as he got to his feet. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction Joe had gone, concern passing over his features for a moment. Refocusing himself, he placed his own mug into the sink, quickly washing them up. When he'd done that, he walked over to the front door, picking up his mobile, car keys and wallet on the way, and tugged on a coat. Having shut the door behind him, he made his way over to the car, climbing in, before driving towards the village.

* * *

Debbie collected the kids from Charity, rolling her eyes at her mother's comments on the fact that she'd spent the night with Joe up at Home Farm. She didn't understand why people still had to be making such a big deal about it. They loved each other - wasn't that enough for people? 

She was just ushering Jack and Sarah into the house when she spotted Graham heading to David's shop. Pausing for a moment, she considered what to do. "I'll be right back," she told the two children, after a moment of thinking, then crossed the road to meet Graham.

"Ah, Debbie. Anything I can do for you?" The man asked courteously as she approached. Despite not particularly liking her, and being suspicious of why she would still be interested in pursuing a relationship with Joe, after what he'd done to her, he thought it was the least he could do to be friendly - at least for Joe's sake.

"Actually, there's something I need to tell you..."

* * *

Graham arrived back at Home Farm around half an hour after he left. He placed the shopping bag on the floor, so that he could take his coat off, before carrying it through to the kitchen, unpacking the various items. Once everything had been put away, he turned his mind to Joe, knowing that he needed to talk to the young man. 

Graham walked through to the office, finding Joe sat at the desk, scowling at the piece of paper he was reading. "Is that anything interesting?" He enquired.

Joe glanced up at the other man, muttering, "No. What is it you need, Graham?"

"I need to talk to you," Graham replied. "I saw Debbie when I went into the village."

"And?"

"Were you planning on telling me that you were having nightmares again?" The older man asked, slightly sharper than he'd meant to.

Joe sighed. "Debbie told you."

"Yes. She's worried about you, Joe."

"And you said you'd talk to me about it, so that you could put her mind at rest?" The younger man snapped, annoyed.

Graham shook his head, sounding a little hurt when he spoke again. "No. I worry about you too, you know. And you know that you can come to me - about anything - so why haven't you?"

Joe bit his lip, glancing away, his anger subsiding.

"Joe," Graham said softly.

Still not looking at the other man, Joe replied quietly, "I haven't come to you because... because I'm afraid that, if you comfort me how you used to, I'll never be able to sleep without you there ever again."

Graham's expression softened, as he remembered the first time Joe had told him about his nightmares.

It had been a Wednesday night and there'd been a knock at the door of his hut. He had been met with the sight of a dishevelled, upset-looking boy - Joe. The teenager had explained, rather embarrassedly, that he couldn't sleep for having bad dreams. Graham had invited him in, making him a hot chocolate. They had sat on the sofa, talking for a while, and eventually, Joe had fallen off to sleep, leaning against his shoulder. Graham had moved Joe so that he was lying down, covering him with a blanket, but as he tried to leave, Joe had woken up and asked him to stay. Although he'd felt quite awkward about it, he couldn't have ignored the silent pleading in the boy's eyes, and ended up back on the sofa, with Joe curled up on his chest.

They'd both slept soundly that night, and Joe had sneaked back up to his dorm the next morning. The occurrence of the teenager coming down to his hut at night became quite frequent, with both sharing in the comfort of each other's presence. Of course, as Joe had grown older, it had become more awkward, and eventually it had stopped altogether. Graham couldn't deny that he missed it, though it now seemed that he wasn't the only one who felt that way. 

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Graham walked around the desk, sitting on the edge of it. "And that's problematic because you're with Debbie."

Joe nodded, gaze still away from Graham's, feeling awkward. "Yeah. But the thing is, I miss you, Graham. I miss the comfort of being with you."

The older man reached out a hand, taking Joe's chin between his fingers, and turning his head so that he was looking at him. "I miss it too," he confessed, voice soft.

Joe was surprised to hear Graham speaking so gently, and nodded, unsure what to say next.

"You could always, if you want to, join me tonight?" Graham offered.

The brunette nodded. "Yeah, I'd like that." A pause, before, "Thank you, Graham."

"You're welcome."

Joe wrapped his arms around the other man, hoping his hug would display his gratitude.

Graham returned the hug for a few moments, before pulling away. "I'll let you get back to whatever you seemed to want to burn before I interrupted."

Joe chuckled. "Thanks, Graham."

The older man nodded, standing, before turning and exiting the room.

Joe smiled to himself, then glanced back down at the piece of paper and sighed. He'd much prefered chatting to Graham to this.

* * *

Later that day, Joe was lying, stretched out on the sofa, typing on his laptop. Engrossed with the business he was conducting, he didn't hear Graham enter the room. 

"Still working?" The older man questioned.

Joe jumped a little, looking up from the screen. "Yeah."

"Why don't you take a break?" Graham suggested. "I'm sure whatever you're doing can wait."

"It could wait, but I'd rather get it done now."

The other man shook his head, checking his watch. "It's coming up eleven o clock, Joe, and we have an early meeting tomorrow. You should get some sleep."

Joe closed the laptop, placing it aside. Quirking a brow, he enquired, a small smirk on his face, "Are you that desperate to get me into bed with you?"

Graham flushed slightly, but didn't reply. Instead, he crossed the room, picking Joe up bridal style.

The younger man yelped in surprise. "Graham, what are you doing?"

"Seeing if this answers your question," Graham responded calmly, carrying Joe towards the stairs.

"It does," Joe assured Graham, arms looped around his neck.

"Good," the former soldier replied, glancing down at the other man.

Joe swallowed thickly, returning Graham's gaze.

Graham looked up again, carrying Joe to his room and carefully putting him down when they reached the door. "You go and get changed, and I'll do the same, then come and find me once you're ready."

Joe nodded. "Okay. See you in a minute." He disappeared inside his room.

Graham smiled fondly, continuing along the landing to his own room. He shut the door behind him, before getting changed into his pyjamas and brushing his teeth. He then lay down on his bed, leaning back against the headboard and waiting for Joe.

Meanwhile, Joe was doing the same in his own room. Once he was ready, he walked along the hall, pausing outside Graham's door. He took a deep breath, feeling kind of nervous, then pushed open the door, stepping inside.

Graham smiled at the younger man as he entered, trying to ease the tension that he could feel in the room. Joe smiled back, shutting the door behind him, before crossing the room to Graham's bed. Graham pulled back the covers and Joe slipped in beside him. He'd forgotten just how warm the older man's body always was, and instantly found himself snuggling closer. Graham wrapped his arms around Joe, holding him close.

"This is already better," Joe murmured, closing his eyes.

"I'm glad," Graham responded softly, smiling again. He switched off the lights, then closed his own eyes. Despite the fact that it had been so long since they'd done this, it felt natural.

It was silent for a while, before Joe spoke again, "Graham?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Joseph."


End file.
